Fixing the Future
by hking03
Summary: AU. MA rating - Grpahic, violence, sexual nature and swearing (mostly in future chapters). Set after Dean becomes a demon and things go bad. Real bad. Sam and Kay have to fix it - but nothing runs smoothly in their world.
1. Chapter 1

'This isn't right.'

Sam didn't seem to register her even being there. He just continued to stare blankly down at the mutilated corpse of his demon brother.

'There's got to be a way Sam _think_!'

'There isn't a way.' Sam said in a small voice, as if him making a sound would cause his constrained emotions boil over.

'There's _always_ a way. How many god damn times have the Winchesters cheated, conned, defeated or come back from the dead?! What makes _this_ time so impossible?' She was reaching; she was desperate - because she was on a completely different spectrum from Sam. Unlike his numb, unprocessing state she was full of fury and denial, stubbornness and some kind of twisted hope that if she wanted it enough and asked enough times something could be done.

But they both knew why this time was different. Because they all knew what had happened hundreds of times to demons that they'd vanquished with the gun or the knife or the other knife or the other _other_ knife. Those demons didn't come back. Now Dean had joined those demons.

'_Fuck._' Kay slumped down against the wall, the word coming out thick with tears and a burning in her throat. She wrapped her arms around her legs and they both continued to stare at him, bloody and lifeless on the floor.

Forever passed in a minute. Despite himself Sam's mind flitted through possibilities. First was Crowley but if he knew how to bring demons back they would have seen Meg or any number of demons again. Cas was the next – if Dean was human then Cas would be able to help – he had done before, but what angel would know how to bring a demon back? Crossroads demon was a choice, though even if they could bring Dean back, what would Sam have to sacrifice in order for them to do so? Did Dean even want to come back? Hadn't Sam himself been in this exact situation, dying and peaceful, only to be tricked and wrenched back into the messy living by his brother and his inability to deal with the loss?

Sam was about to share this thought with Kay, that perhaps they could take solace that Dean wasn't living as the monster he had always fought against, but Kay got there first.

'I have to go back.'

Sam found it difficult to process anything other than his own thoughts and really didn't have the energy or the care to ask her what she meant. He merely looked at her, thinking maybe she was going mad trying to understand the death of her lover. If nothing else the fact death was so easily overridden in their world made a real death, a no-going-back death, all the more harrowing. Kay wiped her eyes on her folded arms, sniffed and, wobbling, stood up.

'I can go back.' Again Sam just stared at her. Did she think changing a couple of words would make him understand? Go back where? Kay stood tall, strong, solid in her decision. Sam started to pay attention – her determination was curious.

'Sam, I'm going to go back.' She stepped towards him, so that they were on opposite sides of Dean, looking like they'd just finished a sacrifice. Both with blood-soaked hands and spattered clothes and blood drying in their hair. Sam began to understand. But how? How could it be so convenient? Could Dean really cheat a death as final as a vanquished demon?

Kay grinned shakily at him, a horrific look considering the blood cracking on her face as she did.

'I'm going to go back in time and save Dean Winchester. From this battle, from this gruesome ending and from ever becoming a Demon.'

'Are you sure?'

'Of course I'm sure Sam what do you think I am?' Kay was now fully in the zone. She was circling around Dean and looking at thin air from what Sam could tell. If Sam hadn't known Kay for so long he would have diagnosed this behaviour as a symptom of PTSD, he will still considering it now, but he was so desperate for something to work.

'But how do you know? I thought you said they come and go randomly. You've never mentioned the ability to time travel before.' Kay looked a little sheepishly at him.

'I've been able to for the past couple of months. I've only gone back tiny time periods. A couple of days, then a couple of weeks. I managed to do three months a few weeks ago but I got stuck in England for about five days because I couldn't bring myself back.'

'Well you'd need to go back at least double that to stop Dean from ever taking the mark from Cain.' Sam was losing faith like a glass of water full of holes. 'How can you look so calm about this?'

Kay shrugged, still looking at things no one else could see. 'I guess because no matter if I get stuck, I'll still be with you guys. You'll both be alive and well.'

'But what if you go too far? Or not far enough?'

'If I go too far I'll obviously just wait until the time I need to take action and if I don't go back as far as Dean not having the mark of Cain I'm sure I'll find a way to help him – at least he'll be alive.'

'But you couldn't help him this time.'

Kay huffed; Sam's questioning was distracting her. 'Sam I didn't _try_ and help him this time.'

Confused, Sam paused. Then his head cleared a little and he saw sense. Kay had stopped circling and was looking at him timidly. She was never afraid to say anything to him; they had a great friendship where they understood each other the vast majority of the time. He gave her a _well go on_ look.

'Sam, if I go back too far, say, another six months, back to just after Cas accidentally got all the angels kicked outta heaven. Back to when'

'When I was dying and Dean tricked me into living.' Sam finished, he knew what she was asking. How many times had he wished Dean would have stopped being so selfish and let him go? How much of a rift had that one decision caused them? But now that he was standing here, alive, and more importantly desperately trying to get Dean back to the living…

'Kay, if you end up around that time I want you to'

'I don't care what you want.' Kay waved Sam's sentence away. He paused, confused once more. 'Sam I wanted you to know before you got the chance to think of it and ask me: I don't want to know what you'd want me to do. I'm not going to change anything Dean did. One: because it's none of my business. Two: because I will not be the cause of Dean's pain. And three: because I'd have to actually stop him and then he'd hate me and I'd blow whatever cover I may or may not have to use.' Sam flustered for a bit but eventually accepted her stance and nodded.

Sighing with satisfaction, Kay resumed her task. Though it wouldn't be an easy one. For many reasons. She was giving Sam confidence she knew she didn't have. This could all go horribly wrong – and with their luck it would.

'So,' Sam stood next to her and, clapping his hands together, looked ready to try this crazy idea. 'What do I do?' Kay stood straight and ran her fingers through her hair.

'I don't quite know. See the few times I've teleported I've been thinking of a specific memory of mine. I work off of that and it gets me pretty much within that specific time frame. The clearer the memory, the more I want to be there again, the easier it is. Except,' she turned to Sam, her hands on her hips, 'except this time I'll be going back to a date where I was no-where near you guys. I can remember what I was doing but you don't know what day or days it was that would be best for me to go back to. And even if you did – I'd end up where _I_ was at that time. And that's not good.'

'Oh so you'd have to find out where we were at the time and travel there?'

'Yes – like a normal person. On a train or a plane or bus or whatever – who knows how long that would take. And on top of that I don't know if I can meet my other self. I mean personally I think I'd be fine with it because, well, I'm me. But then there's the whole screwing up the past thing. Like, if my other self knows I've come back in time because Dean _really_ dies then she may act differently towards him which means the future will be different. Though I'm not sure how much more fucked up this world can get.'

Okay Sam was officially confused. He ran a hand over his face, causing flakes of blood to shed. He wiped his hands on his jeans in the hope of shifting some of the blood. How much of it was Deans?

'Sam I need one thing from you.' He stood to attention to find Kay's hand being offered to him. 'Take my hand and think real hard of around that time. Hopefully some extra magic bullshit will make it easier for me to end up where you guys were instead of where I was. Though I'm not holding out any hope.'

'Right.' Sam took Kay's hand, feeling better just for doing so. She had that effect on everyone. He guessed it was something her kind could do. Okay so, think of that time. It was a time Sam really didn't want to think about. He didn't want to think about dying, or failing the trials, or having that angel inside of him. He didn't want to go back to when he felt most betrayed by Dean. But then, how much worse was that time than any other time they shared in the last ten years? If they'd known what shit they would get into when riding down another American route, searching for their dad, would they go on? Dean would.

Kay shivered in his hand and then, before Sam was able to fully come out of his thoughts, she vanished with a little squeak.

Sam stood alone in the bloody chamber with his cold, dead demon brother and the strained belief that he was able to carry on. Because if Kay got it right, he would never have to experience this.


	2. Chapter 2

Kay finished her squeak on a dusty patch of side-road in the afternoon sun. Stumbling, she wondered if one day she wouldn't come out with all her atoms in the right place. She felt her face for any abnormalities and was relieved to find not only were there not any, but the blood had been wiped off of her and her clothes. She didn't have time to think of whether this was because in this time she didn't have multiple species' blood on her, because a well-known Impala was pulling into a stop just by her.

Wanting to make sure, Kay held back as both doors swung open and the fresher-looking bodies of Dean and Sam Winchester made themselves seen. Kay stared, mesmerised by the now-living Dean. He was wearing the same black T-shirt and kaki open shirt that he always did. That didn't really help the time frame much but at least he wasn't wearing something she'd never seen.

Relieved and grinning like a schoolgirl meeting her crush, Kay swayed on the top of her toes and waved excitedly at the pair of men walking towards her. Dean was closest to her as Sam was coming from the other side of the car. They both looked straight at her and ignored her wave, her welcoming smile, as if it wasn't for them. Dean gave her a look up and down but merely strode with Sam past her and into the lone store.

Turning back to see if she was looking at them Dean saw she was, and openly too. Smug, he leant to Sammy and said: 'Man that chick is giving me some serious vibes.' Sam scoffed and continued walking; he gave no crap for whatever roadside girl Dean now had in his sights. They'd be out of here in five minutes and he'd never see her again. Sam was definitely not going to browse the store's inventory for an hour whilst Dean cured what ails him – if only for a while.

Kay couldn't quite process what had happened. She stood in a frozen position for an odd amount of time, the sun heating her and the wind covering her in a fine sheet of dust. Something was wrong. Okay, now what. Kay needed to know _when_ she was and she wasn't about to make herself look like a loon by asking someone, very casually, _Hey, by the way, what year is it? I forgot my phone so I don't have a calendar!_

The shop. The shop would have magazines. Magazines had the date. The shop also had the Winchesters. No matter how bad this was it would be so much worse if she lost them – she had no chances of keeping up with a car in this condition.

Walking up the steps and opening the store door, Kay clarified. She was in America, she was in a time when Dean and Sam were hunters because they looked the same and they were together with the Impala. When had she first met them? Thinking about it she couldn't actually remember, which was terribly odd for her. Anything of importance she knew the year, the date, the place, sometimes even the minute. When you live as long as she had you were always aware of the time.

Musing over this she put on the pretence that she was just another customer. Out in the middle of nowhere. Without any transport. Good thing she hadn't made too much of a scene or the Winchester's would have been suspicious already. She stepped carefully to the magazine rack and idly picked up an issue of Vogue. How this got all the way out here she didn't know, but she was grateful because it had the date: _April 2006_.

'What the fuck?' She muttered harshly under her breath. She took another magazine to make sure, and another, then, discarding them she moved onto a newspaper. _20__th__ April 2006_. So it definitely wasn't an April fools' joke. She let the paper drop only to realise the mess she was causing. Looking apologetically at the cashier, and then hurriedly at the drinks aisle where she found Sam looking at her quizzically. She put everything in its place and got out of the store.

Outside, but still in the shade of the store, Kay began to sort everything out. She'd gone back, way back, back to when…_Shit_ when Sam and Dean were first reunited. Oh crap this was far too far, like seven or eight _years_ too far. Why had she come back that far? She was a little impressed that she was able to do it, although it was little comfort knowing her ability would be out of order for who knows how long. So what was her plan? She'd always liked the honesty policy. She knew Sam, with a little explanation and reasoning, would come round to the idea pretty quickly. But Dean…

Even if he did believe her, and what was more likely was he would shoot her before he believed her, knowing she wasn't human, what she could be capable of…

Sam and Dean strode out of the shop and headed towards the Impala. Kay had every intention of telling them the truth – she hated lies and the upkeep of maintaining them – but she found herself waving frantically at Sam and calling his name out like an old friend.

'Sam! Sam Winchester! Is that _really you_?' Sam and Dean turned to face her, both equally surprised that she knew Sam's name. 'Oh my gosh, Sam it _is_ you! How long has it been? Five, six, maybe seven months?' She forced Sam into a hug, but only a short one – she didn't want to give the brothers the time to share a suspicious look. She stepped back, the stupid grin still plastered to her face.

'Oh come on Sam don't tell me the only time you recognise me is with piles of books and inside Stanford U's library. It's me, Kay.' Sam was caught off guard. He did not know this woman and yet, she knew him. Mostly his body shouted _demon_ but they were never this stupid, surely she would know he would not recognise her and therefore ruin her cover?

'I heard about Jessica. I'm sorry Sam, I can only imagine the sorrow, your loss.' Kay's mood dampened and softened completely, and she genuinely felt like she had lost her partner too. Sam's mind was made up.

'Oh, yeah, Kay. Hi.' He awkwardly brought her into another hug. 'This is Dean, my brother.'

'Oh wow, when you were telling me what an arse he was you didn't mention what a gorgeous arse he was.' Kay looked Dean straight in the eye and watched him flounder slightly.

'Dean, I think we need more food, this will be a long journey. Why don't you go get some more and I'll catch up with…'

'Kay.'

'Yeah, Kay.' Dean gave Sam and obviously _are you fucking crazy_ look. Kay wondered how they had ever defeated any supernatural thing when they were as subtle as a brick. Sam gave him the _everything's okay _look and Dean, reluctantly, stalked off into the store again.

Sam started walking and beckoned Kay to follow. They walked around to the side of the shop, where there were no windows and less road visibility. Sam drew his gun and pointed it at Kay's head.

'Who are you?' He bellowed. Kay put up her hands and kept eye contact. She wasn't afraid of his gun – she'd survived much worse – but she was terrified of having to recover from a bullet and therefore potentially losing her only chance of tagging the Winchesters.

'Sam. I am not hostile. I am not a demon.'

'Yeah, like I believe that. What do you want? Thought you'd tail us and catch us off guard?'

'Sam _you_ lied and said you knew me from Stanford so you don't believe that. And if I were a demon would I try and cover my tracks that poorly? I had both of your off guard and that would have been my chance to kill you. The same goes for me being hostile. I've had more than enough times to do something to you and I haven't.' Kay, not liking to stand in one position so long, shuffled her feet in the dirt, looked down and then squinted back up to Sam.

'Your hair is so different. You look like some kind of teenage boy band member.' Sam still had the gun pointed at her head. Kay was losing patience with him. She didn't like guns, and she had rationally explained how she was not a threat. 'God Sam can you point that thing away from me?' She batted it away and, feeling like a fool for not shooting her when she reached for the gun, Sam lowered it.

'What do you mean about my hair? It's been this way for ages. Even if you _were_ from Stanford, this would be the haircut you would know.'

'Well as you can guess I don't know you from Stanford.' Kay glanced at her watch. Dean had been gone for seven minutes. He wouldn't stay inside much longer. She had to convince Sam she was a time traveller in that time. Simple really. She sighed heavily.

'I'm from the future.' She braced herself and Sam relaxed, laughed, scorned.

'Oh really. So what you're here to tell me that I'm the one who leads the resistance against the machines when they rise?'

'Sam there's no terminator war in the future. Well, not eight years in the future anyway.'

'Eight years? That's a pretty short time isn't it?'

'Well let's see how far back in time _you_ can travel then!' Sam was still sniggering. He would have believed this if he had already met Kay – but it was clear he hadn't. The quickest way was some kind of proof. Something he could see, he could feel.

Kay dug inside of her jean pocket and produced the latest iPhone. The best part was the original iPhone was still over a year away from being produced. Sam looked at it, dumbly. Kay thrust it into his hand.

'There. Proof.'

'What is it?'

'Sam it's a phone. A smart phone. An Apple phone. You know, the people who make Mac computers and iPods? This is an iPhone.' She hurried to Sam's side whilst she showed him.

'Look it's a touch screen. You open it like this. See? See the date? 2014? Okay so yeah I could have programmed that in. Well, I know there's something in here that will prove my point.'

Kay swiped through the pages, knowing the concept of 'superior apps' and '4G internet' were pointless since she wasn't in the correct year anyway. Then her eyes settled on 'Photos'.

'Aha! I knew there would be something. Now let me see.' She scrolled down the many photos she had taken and the gifs, the memes she had filed away. 'I know there's a photo of us in here somewhere…got it!' She stood back proudly and presented the iPhone to Sam.

Sam peered at the screen. He was looking at a selfie. A selfie of him, the woman, and Dean. Except his hair was different, pushed back and _look at those side burns_. His shirt was tight around him, his muscles filling it out. There was a cake in front of Sam and candles made out of numbers: one and three. Thirty one. His thirty first birthday. It was impossible, absurd, there was no way he could be looking at a snapshot of himself and his brother eight years in the future. But at the same time he was. They looked happy.

Just as Kay started to see Sam believe her, she heard the shop door open.

'Sam you cannot tell Dean I'm from the future.' Sam blinked, stunned.

'What, why? That's just stupid.'

'No, no Sam, listen to me. I'll tell you everything, just like I always have. You and me are kindred spirits – we get each other. We understand each other. I never lie to you and I tell you things I've not told another human. But Dean…' Kay faltered, not wanting to admit his brother's shortcomings, but she had no time. 'Dean doesn't accept me. I'm not human. No, humans don't figure out how to time travel in eight years' time and I wasn't sent here by magic, at least, anyone else's magic. You know what Dean is like. Black and white. Supernaturals and humans. I'm not human so I must be bad, I must be seen as an enemy and I must not be trusted.'

Kay saw Sam processing but he wasn't going to have time to understand and believe it was the truth before Dean found them.

'Sam I will tell you more the moment we have time alone. But for now, _please_ I am just Kay from Stanford and you want to catch up with me.' She grabbed the iPhone from Sam's hand and she thought, she hoped, she saw acceptance in him as Dean rounded the corner.

'So you tell me to go get food so you can come here and get your rocks off? Pot and kettle, Sammy, pot and kettle.' Dean motioned between himself and his brother. Sam, still processing, took a moment to venomously deny the implication.

'C'mon Dean everyone knows you're the only one sleazy enough to add public nudity and public sex to your criminal record.'

'Hey.' Dean pointed his finger at Sam. 'I'm not stupid enough to get caught so you'll find nothing like that on my record.' He winked at Kay and she smiled awkwardly, still terrified that Sam would expose her and wondering whether being accused of being a demon was worse than Dean knowing the truth.

'So, uh, I thought that, seeing as it's getting around that time anyway and Kay was, was hitchhiking and doesn't have any other way to get anywhere, that we could go somewhere to eat and we'd have a proper catch up.' Dean scowled at his brother, a whole evening alone because he wanted to pretend he was still Mr Normal? He beckoned Sam over to him and they turned from Kay.

'Sam, this is your life now. You can't just act like you're a university drop out whenever some college chick that has a crush on you appears.' Sam ignored the stupidity of his sentence and chose his words more carefully.

'Dean, I'm not. But we've got nothing else to do for this time other than go find a crappy motel and research the next case. It's hours before dark, we gotta eat, and besides,' he took a deep breath, 'besides Kay was a good friend of Jessica and I never got to grieve. It would be nice for me, to have this, before I lose all of myself to hunting.' He studied Dean's face and saw him struggle with the complex emotion that Sam had just thrown at him. It seemed to win him over, just. They turned back to Kay, who, attempting to seal the deal offered to pay in a high voice.

Dean raised his eyebrows. A girl, paying for their food. 'Whatever you order.' Kay said with more confidence. Now Dean was on board.

'Anything and everything? Including drinks?' He asked, searching her face for some kind of loop hole.

'Anything and everything. Including drinks.' Satisfied he clapped Sam on the back and headed to the Impala. 'Lady, you may as well have just lost a bet.'


End file.
